Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington High Grad Vying For UA Homecoming Queen
Farmington High graduate Katherine Ganoung was named to the University of Arkansas 2016 Homecoming Court and is one of seven outstanding young women vying to be voted Homecoming queen by the student body.
Voting started Monday and the 2016 Homecoming queen and king will be crowned at halftime Oct. 15 during the game against Ole Miss.
Ganoung, a UA senior majoring in marketing with minors in management and nonprofit organization, graduated from Farmington High in 2013. She plans to attend graduate school at the UA with an emphasis in communications. One of her graduate school goals is to work as an apprentice teaching public speaking to freshman students.
“Since graduating Farmington in 2013, I embarked on my University of Arkansas journey with plans to get engaged in the campus community and try to make an impact in my time here,” Ganoung wrote in an email about her honor of being considered a top homecoming queen candidate.
Farmington High School teacher Belyn Rodgers on Monday said by email that she is proud the University of Arkansas has taken the opportunity to recognize Ganoung.
“Katherine exemplifies the qualities we want to see in a young woman,” Rodgers wrote. “She is intelligent and ambitious but unfailingly kind and gracious. She does want to be her best, but more importantly, she wants others to be their best. She gives of herself in such a way that every life she touches is made better. In this day and age, the phrase ‘ servant- leader’ seems to apply to very few, but this is truly who Katherine is.”
Ganoung joined Alpha Chi Omega sorority as a freshman and is involved in many clubs in the Walton School of Business. As a senior, she is chapter president of her sorority with more than 370 members and still remains involved in clubs and organizations.
She is an activist for domestic violence awareness and prevention and last year spoke to Farmington High School students promoting the message of healthy relationships.
The University has 380 registered student organizations and as part of the Homecoming process, each organization can nominate three candidates for Homecoming court. Ganoung and two other young women were nominated by Alpha Chi Omega. Candidates submit applications, resumes and other responses.
From the initial applications, Ganoung was chosen as one of the top 20 queen candidates.
A panel of faculty, staff and students interviewed the top 20 candidates for queen and king, asking them about their life plans and thoughts about the UA, Ganoung said. A banquet was held in honor of the top 20 candidates and at the end of the banquet, the top 12 candidates were announced.
Ganoung then went through another round of interviews, 20 minutes for each candidate. Ganoung was announced as one of the final seven — and part of the Homecoming Court — Friday night at the Chancellor’s Ball in Fayetteville.
“It has been a truly incredible honor to be considered for this role alongside such amazing and selfless leaders who create opportunities to be the University of Arkansas, everyday,” Ganoung wrote. “No matter the outcome, this consideration is the perfect encapsulation of the joy and honor it has been to be an Arkansas Razorback over the past three years. The service, opportunity, excitement, spirit and tradition that I have found within the community of the University of Arkansas has impacted my life in so many ways.”